New Law Makes Zoning A Tool To Bargain With

April 03, 1989|By DAVID LERMAN Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (County) — The county, eager to find new ways to pay for the costs of growth, will gain legislative clout in July that supporters laud as "the wave of the future" but opponents deride as "flat-out extortion."

The new powers, which were approved by the General Assembly in February, will allow James City and other rapidly growing localities to accept cash and off-site public improvements like roads and schools from developers seeking rezoning approvals for their projects. Gov. Baliles sent the proposal back to the legislature for minor revisions, which are expected to be approved Wednesday.

At issue is who should pay the costs associated with a growing community: the general public, via higher taxes, or those responsible for growth, the developers and new homebuyers.

Ultimately, planners say, both must pay, but devising an appealing formula for sharing costs has often proved difficult.

Under current state law, the county can accept only on-site improvements like landscaping provisions and sewer and water systems. County officials and land-use experts say the ability to bargain for off-site public needs could prove to be a valuable tool to help finance the costs of new development.

"A new day is dawning," said Robert Emmett III, an attorney and developer active in local land-use matters. "The conditional zoning in James City County will have a dramatic impact on all future zoning decisions. You've opened up a whole new world of opportunities for local governments."

For example, when Anheuser-Busch Inc. decided to build its brewery in James City in 1969, the state paid the full cost of widening Route 60 to four lanes from Williamsburg to the brewery site. If Busch were to build the facility this year, however, the county's new zoning powers would make it possible to ask Busch to help pay for the road widening, even though the road is not part of Busch property, one county source confirmed.

Moreover, Busch might be expected to help pay the $31 million price tag of a planned interchange at Interstate 64 and Busch Gardens. "Certainly it's arguable that those things are needed because of that development," the source said.

Similarly, if the Ford's Colony subdivision were to have been rezoned for construction this year, the developer might have had to help pay for the widening of Centerville and Longhill roads and fund the construction of an elementary school, the source said.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas D. Mahone said of the legislation, "I think this will benefit us. We have a philosophy of users pay. In the past, when we had development the citizens have supported it. This will give us the opportunity to shed some of that cost to the development itself and keep it from impacting the general tax base."

But critics charge the new legislation, which takes effect July 1, will drive up the price of homes as developers pass on their added costs to new homebuyers.

"The poor man won't be able to buy a house," said Sen. William E. Fears, D-Accomac, who voted against the zoning bill. "Everything's going to be for the rich now. You're going to be faced with outlandish housing costs."

The effect of the new zoning powers may be put to the test when the county considers the huge rezoning request by the Chesapeake Corp. to build a mixed-use complex called Stonehouse that would contain over 6,800 homes and 9.6 million square feet of commercial space. If, as expected, the rezoning does not come before the board until after July 1, the ability to accept cash and off-site improvements would apply, according to the county attorney's office. When it submitted its application, Stonehouse offered to pay for $15 million in improvements.

In booming Northern Virginia, which has had more sweeping zoning laws for over a decade, local government leaders jealously guard their power to negotiate for off-site improvements, saying it is crucial to help offset the skyrocketing demand for public services. In the last few years alone, traffic-clogged Fairfax County has won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of voluntary concessions, or proffers, from developers for off-site improvements like roads and schools.

"Without proffers we'd be even further behind in our road building," said Katherine K. Hanley, a supervisor in Fairfax, which has estimated it needs as much as $4 billion worth of road improvements to alleviate gridlock. "It's certainly a good way for developers to ameliorate the impact of their projects."

A typical development in Fairfax of 1 million square feet usually yields between $3 million and $4 million worth of off-site road improvements, according to Barbara Byron, a county planner. She said at least half a dozen larger projects of about 3 million square feet have each provided $10 million worth of road proffers.